Take it from a mom on and off set — you want to be prepared for the day your baby comes!

From mommy to mommy, we have some advice you can’t ignore. We caught up with Gossip Girl‘s Kelly Rutherford — mother of Hermes, 3, and Helena, 9 months — at the Red Carpet Launch of Pampers With Dry Max Event on March 18 in New York, and she gave HollywoodLife.com exclusive tips for expecting moms! From meditation to exercise, she says if you get ready NOW you will be prepared by D-Day!

The best things you can do during your pregnancy are “meditating, getting quiet and talking to your baby,” Kelly told us. If you start “visualizing how you want your birth to go, visualizing the baby in the right position and visualizing a healthy birth,” you will be much happier on the day you finally give birth.

On the big day, have someone with you who knows EVERYTHING about the birthing process, she also told us. “The second time around for me, I had a lot more support and it made it a lot easier,” she said of giving birth to Helena. “I had a mid-wife with me, even though I delivered at the hospital. I had someone with me that I knew knew what was going on. It was really, really helpful.”

And Kelly’s final word of advice is to “start planning [now] what you are going to need” for after the baby’s arrival. Ask yourself questions like, “Are you going to need someone to run to the market or help cook for you?” Part of this means you need to “appoint people that you can call when you really need it. “It will make the tough times much easier to handle.

But, until D-Day comes, Kelly encourages you to “really just enjoy the process. Enjoy the moment. It doesn’t last forever, even though it feels like it does!”